TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

CAMPAIGN

• Former Hopeful Lenora Fulani Among Those Thrilled as Obama Becomes First Black Nominee (BlackAmericaWeb.com)
• Barack Obama Wins Montana Primary, Clinches the Democratic Nomination for President (BlackAmericaWeb.com) "What is especially exciting about Senator Obama's candidacy is its attraction to young and independent voters," Clyburn said.
• Her first steps set stage for fall-Campaign wasted momentum, money, analysts say (Boston Globe) Obama, however, picked up on the physical and emotional exhaustion many Americans felt after the bitterly partisan Bush and Clinton years, and built a new Democratic coalition among young, educated, and independent voters.
• War. Economy. Health care. And through it all: Race. (Chicago Tribune) On the surface, the campaign between Obama and McCain will be fought over the traditional subjects of a presidential campaign, peace and prosperity. This is unlikely to be a campaign in which the candidates blur their differences to court the broad pool of independent voters.
• It's Your Party Now: Obama and the death of Clintonism. (Slate) Coalition-building or triangulation?
• Obama’s comfort level at the non-existent Applebee’s salad bar (The Carpetbagger Report) As for the focus group that apparently hadn’t heard much from the media other than news about Jeremiah Wright, this might be a clue to Brooks and his colleagues that the coverage of the campaign is not serving the voters especially well.
• Pew: Steep Drop in Obama Support Among White Women, Independents (National Review Online/The Campaign Spot)
• Hey Democrats - Don't Bash Young Voters in the Press (The Nation/Passing Through)

OPEN PRIMARIES:

• History of Ranked Choice Voting (Seattle Daily Weekly)
• South Dakota Symbolizes Obama's Lingering Woes (Wall Street Journal) One positive sign for Sen. Obama was that he did well with independent voters, particularly in Montana, which had an open primary, compared with South Dakota, which limited voting to Democrats. About one-third of voters in Montana said they aren't aligned with any party -- and just below two-thirds of that group voted for Sen. Obama. In South Dakota, about 15% of voters called themselves independent, and that group was about evenly split between the two candidates.
• Top Two: Bad for voter choice, bad for grassroots politics (Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog) That solution is to restore the open primary and do away with the horriby misguided Top Two - permanently.
• Report from On The Ground in Montana... (Cafe Talk/Talking Points Memo) There is a VERY vigorous and vocal group of Ron Paul activists who are REALLY trying to get him across the finish line ahead of McCain.